Synopsis
Veteran of thirteen previous mysteries, the dwarf detective, martial arts expert, former circus performer, and expert criminologist known as Mongo the Magnificent goes on the trail of a drug-maker whose miracle cures mask an evil intent.
Reviews
Mongo's back in his 12th novel (after An Incident at Bloodtide). The martial arts expert, PI and former circus star who happens to be a dwarf relies a bit less on gymnastics and coincidence this time, and more on his human nature. On a cold night in Manhattan, against his better judgment, Mongo takes in homeless Mama Spit, who has suddenly become clearheaded and is anxious to abandon her former residence?a heating grate?and to pick up her former life as Margaret Dutton. Her cure was effected by some pills a young man pressed into her hands just before he was killed. As a side effect, Margaret's senses of smell and taste have been enhanced. Mongo discovers similarly enhanced senses in Michael Stout whom he encounters at a local chess club. From Stout, Mongo learns that a dozen patients at a mental hospital run by the Chill Shop, a covert CIA group, have escaped. All had been taking this unknown drug, a mixture "of heavy duty psychotropics," likely to cause death if abruptly withheld. To cover up the program and the escape, two assassins aim to to eliminate the escaped patients and then Mongo, whose dogged pursuit of the villains creates a diverting mystery.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The twelfth novel (plus one novella) featuring Mongo the Magnificent, aka Robert Frederickson, the famed criminologist/martial arts expert/former circus aerialist and dwarf is true to the formula employed in the others: Mongo discovers a monstrous plot perpetrated on the helpless by immoral minions of a powerful organization, is tortured by those minions, and then wreaks an almost Old Testament revenge while saving the victims. Along the way, the author endlessly moralizes and violates the writer's dictum, "Don't tell the readers, show them." In this one, the CIA and a Swiss pharmaceutical company are experimenting illegally on schizophrenics. The drug they've developed actually works, but it's the side effects that intrigue the bad guys. Even worse, missing a single day's dose is fatal, and Mongo must shatter the Company and the company while ensuring an ongoing supply of an unknown drug. Needless to say, he fills the prescription. Hokey? You bet. But fans will want their Mongo prescriptions filled, so libraries better stock up. Thomas Gaughan
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